


Your Arms Around Me

by MonsterChild



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 14:37:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonsterChild/pseuds/MonsterChild
Summary: And, then, the letters stop coming.  Worry gnaws at Charlie until Frank Blanchard himself summons her to his office.  She sits across his desk and he says, “Monroe never made it to California.”The news knocks the wind out of her.  Her mind is reeling, and she can barely get the words out of her mouth.  “He what?”Blanchard sighs and leans forward.  “He made his last checkpoint before he crossed the border, but the group he was supposed to meet in California reported that he never showed.”  He gives her a sympathetic smile.  “We have no idea where he is.”





	Your Arms Around Me

They never go on missions without each other.  It’s just not done.  You find yourself a winning team, you stick with it.  And, there’s never been a team better than Charlie Matheson and Sebastian Monroe.  A well-oiled killing machine, one made of strategy and skill and wits and deadly precision.  There’s no reason to separate the two of them.

Yet, that’s exactly what’s happened.  Blanchard has ordered Charlie to assist with things in Austin for the time being while Bass is being sent on a mission in California.  He’s going to be gone for months, without her.  They haven’t been away from each other for years.  Not since Bass went to take Connor away from Neville.  A mission that’s going to take six months at minimum is going to feel like a lifetime for Charlie.

They ride to Austin together, and he helps set her up in her new digs.  A small studio apartment with a full kitchen, just across the street from the Rangers offices.  It’s late when they finish, and he delays his departure for another day.  He spends the night sleeping in her bed, curled around her without even meaning to.  It’s definitely not the first time it has happened so Charlie isn’t much surprised when she wakes up to the arm wrapped around her stomach and his morning erection pressing against her ass.  There’s nothing sexual about their relationship, never has been, but he certainly can’t stop his body’s reaction to the beautiful girl in his arms.

She stands with him outside as he saddles up his horse.  Once everything is packed up, he turns to her and opens his arms.  She steps into him and wraps her arms around him as he embraces her.  “Come back to me,” she tells him.

He nods, a hand slipping into her hair to hug her head to his chest.  “I always do.”

They stand together for a few long minutes before stepping back from each other.  “Stay safe,” she says.  “Keep your stupid to a minimum.  I won’t be there to save your ass this time.”

He smiles.  “Hold down the fort.  I’ll be back before you know it.”  With that, he mounts his horse and rides off.

* * *

 

Charlie throws herself into her work.  She finds herself easily falling into place and getting shit done that nobody else can seem to.  Wasting her talents in an office had never occurred to her, but it turns out that she’s good at it.  That doesn’t mean that she necessarily likes it, she just likes the distraction.

Bass sends her letters when he reaches different Rangers outposts.  She can’t send any back because he’s moved on before they can get to him.  He tells her about the trip and the different patriots that he’s come across and how he dealt with each and every one of them without effort.  He tells her all about the things he sees and about how much he misses having her by his side.  He tells her that he’ll come home to her soon.

And, then, the letters stop coming.  Worry gnaws at Charlie until Frank Blanchard himself summons her to his office.  She sits across his desk and he says, “Monroe never made it to California.”

The news knocks the wind out of her.  Her mind is reeling, and she can barely get the words out of her mouth.  “He what?”

Blanchard sighs and leans forward.  “He made his last checkpoint before he crossed the border, but the group he was supposed to meet in California reported that he never showed.”  He gives her a sympathetic smile.  “We have no idea where he is.”

Charlie tamps down her worry and fears and looks Blanchard straight in the eye.  “Let me go find him.  I can bring him home.”

Slowly, Blanchard shakes his head.  “We need you here, Captain.  There’s much more that needs to be done.  We can’t…  We can’t waste resources looking for somebody who…”  He sighs.  “Somebody who is probably dead.”

She jumps to her feet, slamming her hands on the desk.  “He’s not dead!  He’s not!  He’s better than any of those Patriot bastards.  No way they killed him.”

He eyes her, reading her mind.  “Let me make myself clear.  If you go after Monroe, you will be defying a direct order.  You’ll be stripped of rank and dishonorably discharged.  Think really hard about what you do next, Captain Matheson.”

She stares at him, jaw clenched and lips pressed together.  She doesn’t even say anything else to him as she storms from his office.

As much as she hates it, she doesn’t go after Bass.  Like a good like soldier, she follows orders.  Not that she likes it.

Charlie becomes distracted.  She tries to focus on her work, trying to go above and beyond like she did before.  She wants to lose herself in something so that she doesn’t think about Bass.  So, she doesn’t think about losing him or if he’s still alive.  She throws every single bit of herself into doing the best she can at a job that she hates, a job that kept her from being Bass’ side, a job that she blames for his disappearance.  If she was with him, this wouldn’t have happened.  She would have been able to keep him safe.

But, she tries not to think about it.  She works and drinks and sleeps and doesn’t do much else.  She takes home someone from the bar on Saturday nights and loses herself in them for the night.  Every day becomes a blur, and when she fucks a faceless stranger from the bar, all she can think of is Bass.

Months and months pass.  She keeps sinking deeper and deeper into the void.

It comes to a head one Saturday night at the bar.  She’s well on her way to drunk and busy chatting up the faceless conquest of the night.  “You know,” he says to her, “I’ve always been interested in you.”

She quirks an eyebrow.  “Yeah?  Why haven’t you made a move before?”

He shrugs.  “Well, everybody knows about you and Monroe.”

She smirks.  “Monroe and I aren’t sleeping together.”

“Yeah,” he says, “but nobody wanted to cross him.  Anybody that so much as looked at you could feel his eyes on the back of their head.  He didn’t want anybody near you.”

She leans into him, pressing her hand to his chest.  “I’m a big girl.  Monroe doesn’t make my decisions, I do.”

He lets his hand come to rest on her hip.  “And, now that Monroe’s gone, he can’t do anything to me.”

His words make her pause.  “He’s not gone.  He’s just on a mission.”

The guy gives her an amused smile.  “Charlie, he’s been gone for months.  Nobody’s heard from him for nearly six months now.  He’s dead.  You gotta face it.”

She pulls away from him.  “He’s not dead.”

The guy actually has the gall to laugh at her.  “You’re delusional if you think−”

Out of anger, she punches him square on the nose, a satisfying crunch happening as the bones break.  He cries out and screams.  He staggers back from her, glaring as blood gushes from his nose.  She just stares him down.  “I’m not delusional.  And, he is not dead.”

The repercussions for striking another captain is swift.  Monday morning, she is hauled into Blanchard’s office where he tells her that she is being placed on an indefinite leave of absence.  Once she can prove that she is more “emotionally stable,” they will consider reinstating her.  For now, she is to return to Willoughby where her mom, Miles, Aaron and Priscilla, and her grandpa are all set up.  She wants to fight it and argue to stay on.  She needs to work, she needs to stay distracted.  But, what Blanchard says is an order, and she can’t disobey.

Her mom is happy to have her home, but Charlie feels trapped in Willoughby.  A town too small and too tame to hold her for long.  She’s been ordered to stay put, and she will.  She just needs to find something else to do.

She starts to take care of the house along with her mom.  She hunts.  She learns how to tend the garden and how to cook more than just whatever she kills.  She starts helping Gene at his clinic.  She finds ways to keep herself occupied during the day.

Nights are a different story.  She spends most of them alone in her room, drinking and missing Bass.  She falls back into the pattern she had in Austin.  Once a week, finding a stranger at the bar and going home with him.  Thinking about Bass as she rides them and falls into oblivion.

It’s the nights when she’s alone that it starts to dawn on her.  How her relationship with Bass really is.  The closeness they share is something special.  He’s her most trusted confidant.  He’s the person that knows her best.  He will always have her back.  He’s always willing to protect her and fight for her.  And, she is the same for him.  There’s so much between them.

It’s a long time before she admits to herself that she loves him.

* * *

 

It’s been nearly a year since Bass’ disappearance when the letter comes to her in Willoughby.

_Dear Charlotte,_

_I’m alive and in Austin._

_I know that I have a lot of explaining to do.  I know that you’ve probably missed me as much as I’ve missed you.  I know that I’m dying to see you.  But, I ask that you wait.  I know you’re tempted to ride here and come see me, but I’m not well.  Things got difficult on the road back here, and I’m in rough shape._

_I will come to you in Willoughby as soon as I’m able._

_Yours,_

_Bass._

Tears spring to her eyes at the letter.  He’s alive.  She knew it in her heart of hearts, but the confirmation brings a lightness to her.  She has to wait a little longer.  After a year without a word, she can handle just a few more months.  And, then, she has something to tell him.

* * *

 

Another two months pass before he comes back.  She’s been out hunting, and she’s carrying the two rabbits back to the house.  As she approaches, she sees him.  He’s tying his horse up outside the house and pulling his backpack up onto his shoulder.  It’s like everything else in the world stops aside from the two of them.

She drops her crossbow and kills as she starts running toward him.  “Bass!”

He turns toward her and drops his backpack.  “Charlie!”

She gets to him before he can even move a step.  Without warning, she jumps into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waists.  With her hand around his neck, she kisses him forcefully, pulling his bottom lip between hers.  At first, he hesitates, obviously shocked, but soon he is kissing her back just as vigorously.

Eventually, they break the kiss, but she stays in his arms, legs still around his waist.  Breathlessly, he asks, “What was that for?”

“I missed you.” She presses her forehead to his.  “And, I love you.”

He smiles.  “The second we were apart, I realized how much I love you.”  One of his hands curls into her hair.  “I’ll never leave you behind again.”

She leans in, her lips barely an inch from his.  “You better not.”

“Never,” he whispers before taking her lips in his.

They never go on a mission without each other again.

**Author's Note:**

> This entire story was inspired by that kiss at the end, Charlie jumping into his arms like that. I wanted a story where they weren't an established couple before being separated and this was how she greeted him when he returned. And this is the story I built around it. Hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> No beta so all mistakes are on me.


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